“Gros… Gros…”
In a daze, Gros heard someone calling his name. The voice was very familiar, possessing a sense of majesty mixed with kindness.
‘Father?’
Gros followed the sound, searching for its source. He saw a figure’s back bathed in light, looking extremely solemn. He cried out almost instinctively.
“Gros… go back… go back…”
The voice rang out intermittently before abruptly falling silent.
At the same time, Gros woke up from his coma. Before his eyes was an unfamiliar tent and decorative furnishings.
‘Where is this? I remember I was in battle… Where did my armor and weapons go?’
Gros climbed up from the wooden bed and clutched his neck, which had suddenly begun to throb with pain.
“Hiss… ah, my neck hurts so much!”
The noise Gros made startled the people outside the tent.
A militia member pushed aside the door curtain. After confirming that Gros had indeed woken up, he immediately ran to report to Anke.
‘Humans? How? Am I in human territory?’
Seeing the human militia, Gros instantly became vigilant. At the same time, he finally remembered exactly how he had fainted.
‘I remember now. It was that red-haired female knight; she ambushed me! But why am I here with the humans? Even if I fainted, the warriors of the tribe should have protected me…’
Filled with doubt, Gros walked out of the tent and happened to run into Vera.
“Hello.”
Vera gave Gros a polite smile.
“Not good! You hateful woman, why are you here too?”
Gros shouted, taking a large step back at the same time.
“I am here, of course. This is Border City, after all,” Vera said, looking at Gros as if he were a fool.
“This is Border City? Did you capture me?”
“Yes.”
“Did my warriors not try to stop you?”
“They tried their best.”
“…You captured me because you want to use me to pressure my tribesmen, don’t you? That is impossible. Even if you kill me, I will never let you succeed.”
Gros fell silent for a moment before speaking to Vera.
“No, it is just that His Highness wished to invite you to Border City. Since you are awake now, come with me to see His Highness.”
Vera shook her head.
“Is this how you people invite guests?”
Gros snorted disdainfully and spoke to Vera.
“Yes.”
“Fine. I want to see exactly what your Highness intends to do,” Gros said through gritted teeth.
“This way, please.”
Vera made a gesture of invitation, her other hand still gripping the lance that had knocked Gros down.
Vera led Gros through the military camp toward Anke’s tent, noticing that the barbarian Chief’s eyes were wandering restlessly. She knew that Gros was secretly estimating exactly how many people were in Border City.
However, Vera did not expose Gros’s little scheme, because his actions were also within Anke’s considerations.
As they reached the outside of Anke’s tent, Vera and Gros heard an irritable voice coming from within.
“Just kill me! I won’t say anything!”
‘It sounds a bit familiar. But it shouldn’t be Big Barton; Big Barton couldn’t possibly be captured…’ Gros muttered to himself in a low voice.
“Your Highness, the person has been brought here.”
Vera led Gros into the tent.
“Big Barton? You aren’t dead?”
Gros looked at Big Barton in disbelief.
“Chief? Why are you here! Has the tribe already taken Border City? Hmph, see that, human brat? The warriors of our tribe have already captured your broken little city. If you know what’s good for you, release me, Big Barton, and then bring out all your food and treasures. If we’re happy, we might let you live! Isn’t that right, Chief?”
Seeing Gros, Big Barton’s back straightened instantly. Even though he had been stripped down to a single pair of white shorts and was tied up tightly from head to toe, it didn’t stop him from acting as smug as a victor.
“Big Barton, shut up.”
Gros struggled to control the expression on his face, ordering Big Barton in a serious tone.
“Alright, Chief! Quickly, show them how powerful you are!”
Big Barton failed to see Gros’s embarrassment and continued to try to build momentum for him.
“Human Lord, you invited me, and I have come. What exactly do you plan to do? If you want my tribe to surrender, then I can only say it is absolutely impossible!”
Gros tried his best to maintain the aura a Chief should have.
“Surrender? Rest assured, I won’t force you to surrender. I only want you and your tribe to submit to me. If you agree, I can grant you a formal title of nobility and guarantee that your tribesmen can enjoy the same equal status and treatment as the subjects of my Hanover Province. By the way, let me formally introduce myself. I am Anke Hi Meklund, the fourth son of King William See Mecklenburg of the Black Cross Kingdom and one of the legal candidates for the throne. The conditions I have stated are not empty promises but something that can truly be realized.”
“Don’t take our Iron Jaw Tribe for fools! What is the difference between submitting to you and surrendering! I won’t even think about those temptations of yours. I will never trust you cunning humans!” Gros refuted loudly.
“Oh? Then under what circumstances would you consider accepting my terms?”
Anke was not in a hurry. Instead, he asked for Gros’s thoughts.
“Our Iron Jaw Tribe believes in the strong. If you can defeat us, then I will consider those conditions you proposed.”
“What? But didn’t you already lose today? If you had won, you and that Hornman wouldn’t be here.”
“Who are you calling a Hornman! Wait, human, do you mean… Chief, you were also captured by him?”
Big Barton looked at Gros in shock.
“You only won a minor victory against me using trickery and ambushes; naturally, I am not convinced. If you have the guts, let me go back and we will fight again! If you win again, I’ll consider it!”
“Fine. Then I shall release you and the Hornman next to you — “
“Big Barton!”
Big Barton interrupted Anke’s words.
“This Big Barton will go back with you, and we shall fight again! However, it is still early. Stay for dinner before you head back.”
Anke clapped his hands, and a logistics cook brought in delicious bread and rice dishes.
Because they needed to eat and being tied up was inconvenient, the ropes on Big Barton’s body were also untied.
During the meal, Big Barton and Gros thought about making a move, but a single glance from Vera made them retract their thoughts. Both of them had already learned how terrifying this female knight was.
After dinner, Anke kept his word and released the two of them from Border City, even returning their weapons and armor.
Gros and Big Barton did not dare to linger. They took their weapons and hurried toward the Iron Jaw Tribe’s military camp through the cold wind.
“Are we really just letting them leave like this, Your Highness? Gros should have already mapped out our troop strength. He will definitely lead a full-scale attack on Border City tomorrow,” Vera asked Anke as she watched the silhouettes of Gros and his companion gradually disappear into the dark night.
“It’s fine. Someone will take the beating for us tomorrow.”
“Someone will take the beating for us? Who?”
“Earl Oca.”
Anke pulled out a secret letter sent by Kano.
“Kano says that Earl Oca has already sent troops to New Border City, planning to snatch the credit after we and the barbarians have fought until we’re bleeding and broken. Unfortunately for him, I will make the barbarians believe that Border City is short on troops and that Earl Oca’s forces are our reinforcements. Then, Gros and his men will inevitably go to fight Earl Oca first.”
“What if they don’t do that?”
“They definitely will. After all, from Gros’s perspective, we don’t have the capability to launch a proactive frontal attack, but Earl Oca’s troops do. If he wants to swallow Border City, he must first deal with Earl Oca’s forces; otherwise, their retreat will be cut off,” Anke said with certainty.
…
On the other side, because they were afraid Anke had poisoned the food, although they had eaten, they hadn’t eaten much.
Consequently, the two of them were starving before they were even halfway back. There was no way to go back and ask Anke for more bread — that would basically be begging!
Gros and Big Barton could only endure the hunger and the cold wind as they returned to the military camp in a pathetic state.
However, their luck was good. Just as they sneaked back to the camp, they smelled the scent of meat porridge. It seemed that dinner time was not yet over.
“Strange. Why does it sound like there’s a funeral song for the deceased coming from the camp? Has someone died?”
Gros heard a faint, ethereal singing.
“Maybe they starved to death. Let’s go, Chief. If I don’t eat something soon, I’m going to die of hunger,” Big Barton urged Gros.
When they reached the military camp gates, Gros called for the sentries on duty to open up.
The moment the sentry made eye contact with Gros, he screamed in terror and then scrambled away on all fours.
“GHOST! A GHOST! AHHH!”
“A ghost? Where is there a ghost? Big Barton, did you see it?” Gros asked Big Barton.
“No, no. Chief, the sentry won’t open the door. How about we climb over the wall? It won’t be embarrassing if no one sees us,” Big Barton shook his head and suggested to Gros.
“No, it’s too dark. If we climb the wall, we’ll be attacked as enemies.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Wait!”
Gros and Big Barton stood there like that, freezing in the cold wind for a while longer until they finally saw someone coming with a torch.
“Chief? You… aren’t you dead?”
Priestess Kasia, who had been summoned by the sentry and came prepared with holy water for an exorcism, recognized Gros at the gate.
“I’m dead? How come I didn’t know?”